Table of contents for July 18, 2022 in Globe

MAMMOTH MIMI No amount of sparkly sequins can hide the fuller figure of hefty Hero hitmaker MARIAH CAREY SPEED DEMON NASCAR bad boy KURT BUSCH is wild-eyed at the Nashville premiere of his documentary Rowdy ONE OF THOSE DAZE Director SPIKE LEE dramatically kicks up his heels, but looks like he could be down for the count THIGH ANXIETY Aging Material Girl MADONNA hits the stage in NYC — but crosses the borderline in unflattering short shorts GIDDYUP — AND WHOA! Wrinkled ED HARRIS, Westworld’s notorious Man in Black, is seeing his hair mosey on off his head! BOTTLE BLONDE Wine-toting pop star PINK has grape expectations as she leaves her Big Apple hotel…

REALITY TV’S Cam Ayala — who failed to win the heart of Hannah Brown on The Bachelorette in 2019 — had most of his right leg amputated after battling lymphedema for more than two decades! The self-proclaimed “dance floor king” had the drastic procedure due to the incurable condition, in which the body’s lymphatic system fails to properly drain fluid, causing tissues to swell. But the plucky Texas native, 33, is already learning to walk again and is championing “faith over fear.”…

CLUELESS NeNe Leakes says she has no idea why she’s being “dragged into” the legal drama between her boyfriend, Nyonisela Sioh, and his furious estranged wife, who is suing NeNe for stealing her hubby! Malomine Tehmeh-Sioh accuses the former Real Housewife, 54, of engaging in “an ongoing romantic, uninhibited, and adulterous affair” and wrecking her marriage. “I feel like it’s their business and not mine,” insists Leakes. “I was dragged into something that is just not my business!”…

CORRUPT Kremlin kingpin Vladimir Putin is hiding billions in blood money by using a shady network of companies to buy pricey properties and superyachts, whistleblowers charge. Leaked documents indicate the Russian president, 69, is the puppet master behind at least 86 organizations splashing out major moolah for real estate and investments in his home country — as international governments continue to impose sanctions against the former Soviet Union for the tyrant’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine! Digital records show the suspect firms use the email domain LLCInvest.ru, which has been linked to the warmongering menace, lawmen say. According to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project and Russian news site Meduza, the companies also operate on computer servers owned by telecom company Moskomsvyaz, which has close ties to Bank Rossiya. A…

SCRAWNY Angelina Jolie is looking emaciated and brittle-boned — and now the growing fear among her inner circle is that on top of everything else, she’s developing a dowager’s hump! The 47-year-old A-lister set off alarm bells when spotted in Rome on the set of her next directorial effort, Without Blood, starring Salma Hayek. Angie appeared to be stiff and hunched over as she worked alongside cast and crew. “She’s never had great posture and now it’s worse — to the point where she can’t seem to stand up straight!” spills an insider. “There’s been a ton of concern she could be suffering from osteoporosis. She may not look like the Hunchback of Notre Dame just yet, but people around her worry that’s the direction she’s going!” As GLOBE previously…

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s 82-year-old hubby, Paul, was just charged with DUI and causing injury following his May 28 drunk driving arrest — and now faces a minimum of five days behind bars if convicted, officials say. According to prosecutors, Paul was blitzed as he left the Napa Valley vineyard he owns with the California congresswoman when a 48-year-old man driving a 2014 Jeep crashed into his Porsche. The Jeep driver wasn’t charged. Paul is due in court on Aug. 3.…

U.S. girls hitting puberty sooner ✚ AMERICAN girls as young as six are reaching puberty — and experts say childhood obesity, stress and hormone-disrupting chemicals may be to blame! The University of North Carolina’s Dr. Marcia Herman-Giddens explains data has shown the age of puberty among females has dropped dramatically since the mid-1990s. Scientists believe excess weight, emotional trauma and phthalates — which are used to improve the durability of plastics — could contribute to the early-onset changes, which also increase gals’ risk of developing breast and uterine cancer. Drug offers Alzheimer’s hope ✚ A PROMISING drug appears to reverse brain damage caused by early-stage Alzheimer’s disease and may even prevent the memory-robbing condition altogether, experts say. According to researchers at Yale University, the oral treatment — dubbed BMS-984923 —…

JOHNNY Depp’s courtroom victory over ex Amber Heard has left the Aquaman beauty broke and so desperate for cash she’ll be begging rich and powerful pals for financial help, spies snitch! On the hook to Depp for $8.3 million, the 36-year-old actress won’t be able to pay her ex-hubby, her legal bills — or support herself — with the proceeds from a tell-all book deal she just inked, sources claim. “Her book deal should fetch a couple of million at the very least and there are various one-off commercial partnerships in the works, but it’s a drop in the ocean compared to how much she needs to raise,” dishes an insider. On a recent Today show, Amber’s attorney Elaine Bredehoft was asked if her client was ready to cough up…

LOOK AT ME, I’M DONNA MILLS Did y’all know OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN’s iconic Grease character, Sandy, was inspired by Knots Landing beauty DONNA MILLS — not ’50s sweetheart SANDRA DEE, who’s been credited with the deed? Now 81, Donna is making her case with internet posts featuring her in both the iconic good-girl sweater and bad-girl leather looks from the movie. “Did you know that I went to school with JIM JACOBS? Jim Jacobs who wrote Grease! Jim Jacobs who used ME as his model for Sandy,” she boasts. Grease started life as a 1971 hit musical, which became 1978’s movie sensation starring Olivia and JOHN TRAVOLTA. “I didn’t know it at the time, but I found out years later,” she adds. “I was the original Sandy.” GRENIER TIES THE KNOT WITH STRINGS…

MELISSA SUE ANDERSON The Little House on the Prairie vet looks cool in an ice-blue satin dress and summery sandals LAVERNE COX This sheer tiger-striped catsuit is claws for alarm on the Orange Is the New Black Emmy nominee RHEA SEEHORN A floral print and bright red blouse add feminine touches to the Better Call Saul babe’s ensemble VANESSA WILLIAMS The former Miss America is a beautiful bombshell in a figure-hugging frock and colorful platforms KRISTEN BELL The Veronica Mars alum is a colorful catastrophe in a gingham mishmash and goofy sunglasses…

VICE President Mike Pence is settling old scores — and growing a pair — after spending four years cowering in Donald Trump’s shadow, political insiders dish! The former veep is now secretly feeding damning inside information on corruption, money and the Jan. 6 Capitol Hill Coup to criminal investigators to torpedo Trump’s planned 2024 presidential run, sources tell GLOBE. The 63-year-old former Indiana governor put up with being humiliated, bullied and betrayed by the Trump White House and now is relishing his time for revenge — and his new status as the hero who thwarted the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol Hill Coup, say insiders. Beltway insider and political columnist Alex Stein believes Pence is hell-bent on torpedoing Trump after congressional hearings showed the president did nothing while a mob of…

PRINCE HARRY and his TV actress wife Meghan’s plan to spin their royal celebrity status into real-life gold seems to have hit a speed bump after they were outfoxed by the 96-year-old queen, who is nobody’s fool! Her Majesty saw right through Harry and Meghan’s recent return to Britain. Officially, the couple swooped in from California to help Elizabeth celebrate her 70th year on the throne. But insiders say the royal renegades were really after intimate royal family video footage they could use to cement their $100 million Netflix deal and upcoming Kardashian-style reality series. They ultimately left in a huff — and empty-handed, spies dish. Meghan and Harry were sidelined for most of the official ceremonies marking the queen’s Platinum Jubilee. They were banned from joining the other royals…

GREGORY PECK, playing upstanding small-town Southern lawyer and devoted dad Atticus Finch, creates one of the most beloved characters in movie history in 1962’s To Kill a Mockingbird. But he almost didn’t get the chance to take the Oscar-winning role that addressed race relations in the U.S. James Stewart turned it down first, fearing the story was too controversial. Producers even offered the role to romantic comedy heartthrob Rock Hudson before they picked Peck — who was perfect!…

JEALOUS Jennifer Lopez is refusing to play nice with fiancé Ben Affleck’s ex-wife, Jennifer Garner, who finds the snooty superstar rude —and the gals’ catty attitudes are causing major headaches for the beleaguered Batman hunk, tipsters tattle. Ben is bummed the gals aren’t getting along — especially since his Alias actress ex, who’s the mother of his kids, Violet, 16, Seraphina, 13, and Samuel, 10, has rekindled her romance with fast-food burger baron John Miller, 44, says a spy. “Ben knows they’ll never be one big happy blended foursome, but he’d appreciate it if J.Lo wasn’t so bitchy and disinterested in any type of interaction with Jen and her man,” spills an insider. The vering boozer, 49, has remained on good terms with Garner, 50 — even after their ten-year…

TRIUMPHANT Johnny Depp is close to inking a $300 million deal to return to the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise after his legal victory over ex-wife Amber Heard, sources dish. Disney is said to be wooing Johnny, 59, after making him walk the plank in 2018 amid Amber’s abuse allegations. But in May, a jury found the actress defamed the Blow hunk in a newspaper op-ed when she called herself a domestic violence victim — and awarded him $10.35 million!…

WHO AM I? Answer the clues and place the initials to each answer into the appropriately numbered square to find our mystery celebrity. $100 PRIZE 5 & 11 Audrey Hepburn sang Moon River in the 1961 classic Breakfast __ 7 & 14 City celebrated in a song “so good they named it twice” 2 Novel and movie about Mr. Rochester and a lonely governess, Jane __ 12 & 8 Tony Curtis & Jack Lemmon’s cross-dressing comedy, Some __ Hot 10 Fictional school of witchcraft & wizardry in the Harry Potter films 13 & 3 Monty Python comic who wrote the book & lyrics for the spoof musical, Spamalot 6 & 4 The Lake House actor who plays Neo in The Matrix movie series 1 & 9 Actor whose character in Cheers was so popular…

GUN-TOTING geezer Lawrence Sly shot down his helpless Louisiana neighbor — even pausing to reload his pistol — and now faces spending the rest of his miserable life behind bars! A Jefferson Parish jury found hothead Sly guilty of second-degree murder, which carries a mandatory life sentence, for killing Garland Webber, 57, in 2019. According to authorities, the silver-haired sicko had sparred with his victim for nearly four years before snuffing him out. Before the bloodbath, cops fielded multiple complaints from the grumbling guys, who repeatedly trashed each other. In 2015, salty Sly accused Webber of cutting his lawn while wielding a shotgun. Court records show Webber pleaded guilty to aggravated assault for pointing a shotgun at Sly in 2017 and received a year’s probation. In 2018, deputies responded to…

HIGH-TECH glasses specially equipped to wirelessly beam images to a brain implant may one day allow the blind to see — just like Star Trek’s sightless hero Geordi LaForge, re-searchers say. Dutch scientists have launched an experimental four-year project dubbed NESTOR, which will put the revolutionary specs to the test. The team explains their goal is to “develop a neuroprosthesis that interfaces with the brain, allowing the generation of artificial visual percepts even when there is extensive damage to the eye or the optic nerve.” A camera mounted on the eyeglasses takes a still photo and transmits it to a chip installed in the blind individual’s visual cortex, using radio waves similar to Wi-Fi and Bluetooth technology. The method aims to mimic the way eyes send information to that…

RICKY MARTIN’s furious boy band buddies have come forward to reveal sickening details of their shocking Menudo ordeal — including being drugged and raped when they were as young as 11! In the new HBO documentary series Menudo: Forever Young, the onetime juggernaut junior band that took the world by storm in the ’80s and ’90s is described as a magnet for pervs and slimeball “predators” who abused and exploited the performers! Manager Edgardo Diaz created the massively popular group and kept it going by booting kids who aged out and replacing them with a fresh crop of pretty faces. One former member describes how he and his bandmates were subjected to “extreme sexualization” by a string of producers and promoters. And Angelo Garcia, now 46, who joined the group in…